Parents are welcoming the installation of speedbumps outside of a primary school where drivers have reached speeds of 115km/h.
Nelson City Council has recorded speeds along Marsden Valley Rd, outside of Nelson Christian Academy, over the past two years and found that a substantial number of vehicles exceed the 50km/h speed limit.
"It's actually dangerous," one parent said. "It surprises me a child hasn't had an accident… because there's such a heavy load of cars and buses around this area."
"I can't imagine the logging trucks will be happy about it, but it's good," another said. "Whatever keeps the kids safe."
Between December 2022 and March 2023, almost 82,800 vehicles travelled along the road with 17,863 of them going between 51 and 60km/h.
A further 1134 were recorded going above 60km/h, meaning 23% — almost a quarter — of vehicles exceeded the speed limit.
Some speeds as high as 115km/h have been recorded outside the school.
Because of the high speed of some drivers, there have also been three incidents of cars speeding across the Ridgeway and crashing into peoples' properties, narrowly missing their houses.
"More and more people are living along this road and it is essential to ensure people travel at safe speeds to reduce the likelihood of accidents," said the council's group manager infrastructure, Alec Louverdis.
Data shows that if a pedestrian is hit by a car travelling at 40km/h, the pedestrian has a 30% chance of dying. If the car is travelling at 60km/h, the chance of dying jumps to 95%.
The four speedbumps will be installed this week on Marsden Valley Rd between its intersection with the Ridgeway and the entrance to Nelson Christian Academy — four is the recommended number of speedbumps needed to slow vehicles.
The speedbumps will be combination of speed humps that cross the entire road and speed cushions which are smaller and sit in the middle of the lane.
By Max Frethey, Local Democracy Reporter
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded by NZ On Air
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